Jersey Financial Services Commission Quarterly Report

The Jersey Financial Services Commission has today, 25 August 2005, issued its quarterly report for the period 1 April 2005 to 30 June 2005.

Headlines:

• Bank deposits increased by £ 10.8 billion (6.6%) during the quarter, and by £15.4 billion (9.7%) over the year to 30 June 2005.

• The value of collective investment funds managed in the Island increased by £8.7 billion (8.4%) during the quarter, and by £14.4 billion (14.6%) over the year to 30 June 2005.

• The total value of funds under management (Class B of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998) increased by £ 0.4 billion (1.1%) during the quarter.

• The number of expert funds rose from 60 to 79 an increase of 31%.
  Company incorporations for the second quarter totalled 697, an increase of 89 (14.6%) over the quarter.
  

Bank Deposits
At the end of the quarter bank deposits stood at £173.0 billion. This was an increase of £10.8 billion, or 6.6%, over the first quarter.

Sterling bank deposits increased by £1.4 billion and currency bank deposits by the equivalent of £9.4 billion. Whilst exchange rate fluctuations accounted for £3.1 billion of the £9.4 billion increase, the majority came from an actual increase in currency deposit balances.

The number of banking licences at 30 June 2005 was 50.

Company incorporations
The total number of incorporations during the quarter was 697, an increase of 19% over the corresponding period in 2004. Over the year to 30 June 2005, a total of 2554 companies were incorporated, an increase of 7.7% over the previous year.
The number of ‘fast track’ incorporations for the quarter was 290 and the number of normal company incorporations was 407.

During the second quarter of 2005, against their self-imposed target of 95%, the Registry recorded a 99.7% rate for normal two-day incorporations and a 99.4% rate for fast track incorporations.

Investment Business
Total funds under management (Class B of the Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998) stood at £36.9 billion at 30 June 2005, an increase of £414 million (1.1%) during the quarter.

As at 30 June 2005, the total number of clients of investment managers was 21,513.

Conclusion
David Carse, Director General of the Commission, commenting on the quarterly statistics said today, “The increase in business volumes across all sectors maintains the trend seen in the first quarter of the year, and reflects the continued confidence that clients and financial service businesses have in Jersey.”

To read the press release in full, please visit the press section of www.jerseyfsc.org